Cybersecurity revenues from consumer goods sector to reach $6.5b by 2025

This is due to the rise in digitalisation in their operations.

Cybersecurity revenues earned from the consumer goods sectors are expected to reach $6.5b in 2025 as demand picks up due to the fast adoption of digitalisation in the market, according to GlobalData.

In a statement, GlobalData said revenues for cybersecurity in the consumer goods sector were at $3.9b in 2020, GlobalData said. 

“As consumer goods companies are increasingly relying on digital devices and storing more consumer data, they are facing greater cybersecurity challenges,” Rory Gopsill, associate analyst at GlobalData, said.

With this, Gopsill said cybersecurity revenues in the sector is seen to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.6% between 2020 and 2025.

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Globaldata said companies should hire a chief information security officer (CISO) that will handle cybersecurity issues, as Gopsill noted that none of the largest consumer goods firms has appointed one to their board of directors. The analyst added that cybersecurity is also an environmental, social, and governance issue.

Consumer good companies should also invest heavily in securing industrial equipment that addresses cybersecurity, adding that operational technology (OT) is a “key vulnerability for them.

It said that large firms will have thousands of OT assets ranging from assembly-line robots to programmable logic controllers, potentially spread across multiple continents. However, they vary in vendor, model, age, and firmware version and, will have different vulnerabilities. 

“This means simple solutions such as across-the-board patches and software updates will not secure OT networks,” GlobalData said.

“Consumer goods companies need to do two things above all else. First, appoint a CISO to the board of directors (if this has not already been done). Second, invest in the cybersecurity of OT environments, which are increasingly attractive targets for threat actors,” Gopsill said.